Out-of-town students attending Rochester school causes uproar

Saturday

Mar 28, 2009 at 12:01 AM

ROCHESTER — News that three New Bedford children were pretending to live in town to attend Rochester Memorial School has sparked a public outcry, prompting town and school officials to address the problem and look into tightening the school's residency requirement.

JENNIFER LADE

ROCHESTER — News that three New Bedford children were pretending to live in town to attend Rochester Memorial School has sparked a public outcry, prompting town and school officials to address the problem and look into tightening the school's residency requirement.

According to selectmen Chairman Richard Nunes, for the past two years, the children's mother had dropped them off at their grandmother's house in Rochester so it would appear they lived there and could attend Rochester's elementary school. He said an investigation by Sgt. Bill Chamberlain of the Rochester Police Department confirmed this information. Nunes declined to give the names of the people involved for reasons of confidentiality. He said the Board of Selectmen found out about the situation a month ago and has since fielded calls from disgruntled residents.

"We were a little bit upset," he said. "It costs $10,000 per year to educate a child. It's not cheap and, given these hard financial times, trying just to balance the budget, we're having a hard time just trying to take care of our own residents and their kids."

Police Chief Paul Magee acknowledged an investigation had taken place but said it was done on Sgt. Chamberlain's own time, separate from the Police Department. Sgt. Chamberlain declined to comment.

School officials said they were looking into the case.

"Whenever there is a concern that someone is in the school who does not have a legal right to be in the school, we follow up on that, and that is what we're doing in this case as well," said Bill Cooper, superintendent of the Old Rochester Regional School District.

Asked why the situation was not addressed two years ago when it first came to light, Cooper said, "We've actually investigated it a couple of times. I think we have the information we need now."

The school district does not allow students from out of town to attend local schools, Cooper said, but that rule is based on state law and not spelled out in school policy. Now it may be time for the district to put its own residency requirement in writing.

"I think that it may be possible that the whole portion of showing proof of residence may need to be tightened," he said.

As it stands, the parents or legal guardians of a student registering in the district for the first time — whether as a new student or a kindergartner — must show two forms that prove residency, such as a utility bill and a driver's license, said Sharon Hartley, chairman of the Rochester School Committee.

"I would have to say that we know that we have a good, consistent process," Hartley said. "In the case of people who choose to get around the regulation and the process, you need to have administrators that will investigate and follow through, and our administrators are doing that."

Nunes said he had suggested requiring students' residences to be reverified at the start of a new school year. No final determination has been made, but it's something the School Committee could look into, Cooper said.

Added Hartley, "I wouldn't rule out any possibility because we are vigilant; we want to do the right thing."

Nunes said he wants to go a step further. According to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 76, section 5, schools do not have to enroll children from out of town, and anyone who violates that provision "may be required to remit full restitution to the town of the improperly-attended public schools."

"The town could be asking for reimbursement," Nunes said. By his calculation, three children in the schools for two years at a cost of $10,000 per student per year would make the town eligible for $60,000.

Cooper said the cost per pupil is found by taking the entire school budget and dividing by the number of students, but added that it would be faulty logic to say that any individual student is costing the town $10,000 per year. Adding one student to a school would not force the school to increase its budget by $10,000, he said.

But that does not mean some sort of reimbursement is out of the question.

"It's possible per the law," Cooper said. "It's all part of the legal entanglement of this case. We haven't made a decision on that."

"I have never heard of a case where that particular piece has been enacted," Hartley said.

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